Published 2011/12/22

Published 2011/12/20

Published 2011/12/07

Jonas Mekas, Walden: Diaries, Notes, And Sketches
(1964–1968)

A PROGRAMME TO CELEBRATE THE WINTER SOLSTICE
–
A Book Launch of
Whatever Happened to Sex in Scandinavia?
–
A Screening of Stan Brakhage's
Dog Star Man: Prelude
with a performance of
Homage to Stan Brakhage by Lasse
Marhaug
–
A Late Night Performance
by Center Of The Universe
–
A Selection of books on Situationism
by Torpedo
–
Other Presences of Free Spirits and Ghosts
–
Wednesday 14 December, 19:00 onwards

About the Book Launch
The Office for Contemporary Art Norway would like to invite you to
the book launch of Whatever Happened to Sex in
Scandinavia?, an anthology edited by Marta
Kuzma and Pablo Lafuente that reflects
upon the juncture of the political and the erotic in the 1960s and
70s, in special relation to the image of Scandinavia as a sexually
and politically utopic territory during those decades, and as
continuation of the research and exhibition project Whatever
Happened to Sex in Scandinavia?, which opened at OCA in
2008.

Whatever Happened to Sex in Scandinavia? includes
historical writings by Susan Sontag, Herbert Marcuse,
Wilhelm Reich and early feminists Katti Anker
Møller and Elise Ottesen-Jensen; new
texts by Håvard Friis Nilsen on the sexual
politics of Norway in the 1930s through the relationship between
Wilhelm Reich and Leon Trotsky and by Knut Ove
Arntzen on the legacy of Scandinavian Situationism; and
visual contributions and archival material from artists and
collectives such as Thomas Bayrle, Marie-Louise Ekman,
Öyvind Fahlström,Marianne Heske,
Erkki Kurenniemi, Poul Gernes, Gruppe 66, Gunvor Grundel Nelson,
Claes Oldenburg, Stan Brakhage, Lee Lozano, Paul Sharits
and Barbara T. Smith. Whatever Happened to Sex
in Scandinavia? also includes visual material from key
publications from the time such as Evergreen Review, Screw,
Suck, Puss, Haetsjj, Aamurusko and Gatevisa.

Whatever Happened to Sex in Scandinavia? is designed by
NODE Berlin Oslo, and published by the Ofﬁce for Contemporary Art
Norway and Koenig Books, London, with generous support from Fritt
Ord. It will be distributed in bookstores internationally.

For more information on the book, please contact Tonja Boos.
About the Screening and Performance
The launch event at OCA will include a projection of Dog Star
Man: Prelude, a 27-minute 16mm film made by experimental
filmmaker Stan Brakhage in 1961. The film reflects
Brakhage’s attempt to seize the very act of perception and to,
according to the filmmaker, be touched ‘in the very flesh of our
eyes’. With a radical structure and rhythm, the film presents an
erratic stream of images that range from the telescopic (the sun
and moon) to the microscopic, and with a landscape that becomes
twisted and distorted through the perspective of an anamorphic
lens. Also on display will be Jonas Mekas’s film
tribute A Visit to Stan Brakhage (1966). The original
soundtrack of the 1964 contestational interview of Brakhage with
New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael will also be played
together with the remake of the interview realised by Norwegian
director Birgitte Sigmundstad in 2011.

During the projection of Dog Star Man: Prelude, musician
Lasse Marhaug will perform a sound accompaniment
for the film, drawing from the album Brakhage, an homage
to Brakhage by Andreas Meland and Lasse Marhaug that was released
in 2006. The album has been described as ‘cultivated sound-art
noise, with blowing whistles and a vibrant presence’. Lasse Marhaug
(b.1974) has since the early 1990s been one of the most active
artists in the Norwegian noise scene. As a performer and composer,
he has contributed to well over 200 releases, as well as engaging
in extensive touring and live performances throughout Europe, Asia
and America. In addition to his solo work, Marhaug performs
regularly within the projects Jazkamer, Nash Kontroll, DEL and
Testicle Hazard. Past projects and bands include Origami Replika
and Lasse Marhaug Band.

About the performance by Center Of The Universe
Center Of The Universe will perform from 22:00 to 22:30, combining
heavy bass, odd meters and various exotic elements with a lo-fi
approach. Inspired by folk music and rhythmic excesses Center Of
The Universe made their first recordings in 2000. The band –Jørgen
Skjulstads– has been active in Norwegian underground music
scene since 1998.

About the Selection by Torpedo
Torpedo Bookshop and Torpedo Press will present a wide range of
books around the subject of Situationism, utopian and radical
activism, performance art and artists’ texts from the
countercultural movement. Among the presented titles will be the
newly published anthology Norsk Avantgarde, edited by Per
Bäckström & Bodil Børset, Semiotexte's recent publication
dedicated to the Parisian urbanist and sociologist group Utopie
(1967–1978), a Norwegian translation of Guy Debord’s Society of
the Spectacle, Argobooks and a new publication on 'lecture
performance'.

About the Drinks
Pablo Castro will prepare special drinks on demand and for cash.
Beer and wine will be available for free and have been sponsored by
Brewery International AS.

For any further questions about the evening and the festivities
please contact Maria
Moseng, OCA’s Press Officer.

This presentation is made possible by generous support from Fritt
Ord.